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17 thoughts on “I’ll Manage”

Truly great article, Joe. I laughed, hard, a number of times. Give Loria a chance, though, he might say or do some equally crazy stuff.

I’m sure he hired Jennings so he does not have to pay three managers this season (he is paying Ozzie Guillen this year, and he just extended Redmond through 2017). I’m guessing Jennings gets his GM salary to manage, and I know his GM duties are being taken over by his assistants.

I’m sure that being swept twice, at home, by the mediocre Braves who are managed by yet another ex-Marlin manager, Fredi Gonzalez didn’t help things for Redmond. In addition, I’m sure it didn’t help that Bobby Cox made derogatory comments about Loria (Cox rarely criticized opponents publicly) after Loria fired Gonazalez. Loria retaliated by the classless tact of not honoring Bobby Cox in his last appearance in Miami. The only team not to do so. To Cox’s credit, he said the whole retirement tour was unnecessary anyway.

But, here’s the quote from Bobby Cox. Seems pretty relevant today.

“I know that guy [Loria] is unpredictable, but I was still….After everything [Gonzalez] has done for that guy, are you s——- me?,” Cox told reporters before Wednesday’s game against the White Sox. “[The Marlins] have gone down to the end every year, playing their asses off. That guy doesn’t appreciate anything. He’s one of those guys that thinks you change [for the sake of change]. He’s always wanting to fire the coaches, always. That’s his history.”

This is why I say the 1991 Braves were the biggest miracle team in sports (granted, I’m biased). I moved to Atlanta in ’77, the Braves became my team at age 5 and THIS was what we dealt with, year after year. Let’s trade for Len Barker. Let’s wreck Brad Komminsk. Let’s tear down the teepee for the vast crowds of fans. Lewis Grizzard used to have a joke: do you know what Michael Jackson and the Atlanta Braves have in common? They both wear one glove for no apparent reason. I saw another Atlanta comedian joking that we didn’t have any professional sports teams in Atlanta. It was awful. There was no hope. There was no respect. It was just decade of banging your head on the table.

I moved to Atlanta in 2000. Only nine years after 1991, the fans were pretty entitled. The crowds this year are Miami Marlins bad. True enough, the fans didn’t like the team being dismantled. But things were headed this direction for several years. This town needs another 1991. Oh wait, we got it. It’s called the Hawks.

There are also a lot of people who are furious about the team moving to the “suburbs”, which could be partially to blame for the poor crowds.

I find that whole situation hilarious. Yes, technically the stadium is outside the city limits of Atlanta… but the city limits of Atlanta are very small compared to most major cities. The stadium is at most 5 miles outside the city limits, and I think it’s more like 2.5-3 miles. It’s not like they are building the stadium in Alpharetta or Lawrenceville… I’d never call the new location suburbs. People complain that there’s no public transportation access, but that’s not even true… there’s just not MARTA access. But guess what? MARTA doesn’t even go to Turner Field. And it’s not like Turner Field was a great stadium. It was a retrofitted Olympic stadium, and the location is terrible. There’s NOTHING else nearby. No bars, no restaurants, nothing.

If anything, it’s GOOD for Atlanta. The team is barely outside the city (in fact, it may be closer/easier to get for a significant part of Atlanta proper than Turner Field was), but Atlanta doesn’t have to foot the bill the new stadium/Turner improvements. Cobb County is the one forking out millions.

Mostly agree. Turner Field was very bland, though functional. The area around Turner Field is a complete zero. If it wasn’t for the street vendors selling stuff for cheap (so we didn’t have to pay ballpark prices inside) it wouldn’t have any character at all. And absolutely nowhere to eat or drink before and after? How does that even happen next to a MLB park?

I disagree about the public transportation. While the whole MARTA setup for Turner field was an absolute joke, forcing you to walk through the dilapidated Underground to catch a bus, putting the new park at the intersection of 285/75 is pretty scary. Rush hour is already a complete mess at that interchange. There has to be a plan for that, so fans can actually get to the park, right? I certainly haven’t seen that plan, though.

I live in Vinings, so I’m close, and yes… that interchange is terrible. On the other hand, with games not starting until 7 on weeknights, I’m not sure if it will be quite as bad as people think. Seems like the traffic on 75 mostly cleared 6-6:15. 285 is worse, but people who live around Midtown and took MARTA to get to Turner won’t be using 285 anyways.

Additionally, getting to Turner Field was already a traffic nightmare for anyone who didn’t want to/couldn’t take MARTA. 85 south through Midtown is a parking lot by 4 most weekdays, and it stays that way for hours. It seems to me like it really only affects a small % of fans — namely the aforementioned people who took MARTA to games at Turner. I think for everyone else it’s a wash at worst.

As for Turner Field itself… definitely bland. Unfortunately, the drawings I saw of the new stadium look almost like they are just rebuilding Turner Field 10 miles north. I don’t understand why they wouldn’t take this opportunity to build something new and interesting the way the Falcons are.

I’m following you guys talking about Atlanta with interest. I went to Atlanta several times in the 1990s, to regular season and a couple postseason games, with friends or family or by myself. In retrospect, the main thing that strikes me was the amount of anti-white racism. I and my friends were accosted and harassed dozens of times apparently just for being white. Now I was pretty tough then, so it didn’t bother me too much, but it did get tiresome. It was still a fun experience.

I suppose I haven’t been to enough large cities to do much comparison… I’ve felt some racism in a few other cities like New York and Nashville, or none in San Diego and Seattle, but Atlanta was the champ by far.

I haven’t been to any other MLB stadiums except those in Baltimore, but could compare Turner to others based on info from TV. It was of course utterly bland on the outside. I didn’t care about that at all… what mattered about the outside was being able to get good tickets cheaply, and being able to drive out easily or take MARTA or walk to downtown safely, and what mattered was the inside, which was fine.

I think I have read that safety is a big factor in the new stadium location. I suppose that Atlanta is safer now than in the 1990s, maybe much safer as most of the US is, but maybe people just got tired of the constant harassment. I know I did.

Have you gone to many Hawks games? Do you have any comment on the Hawks’ attendance, or the owner’s concerns about a lack of white fans? (I went to only one, or maybe two Hawks games in the 1990s. I don’t remember much about it except that it seemed more convenient than seeing the Braves. And I’m really hoping the Hawks can beat Cleveland.)

There was something in the water to make baseball of the 1970s so eventful. Some of the craziness carried into the 1980s but I don’t expect we will ever see the characters and stories and spontaneity that we did in the 1970s.

I attended one game at Turner Field in 2001. It was the most bland baseball experience I’ve ever had. The most memorable aspect was parking in what used to be the outfield of the old stadium! There was nothing about the environs or the stadium experience that made a lasting impression. Hopefully the new stadium will do better.

That something in the water was liberalism the kind of which has not been seen since. And I mean societal liberalism, not necessarily political liberalism. I was a toddler in the early 1970s and so didn’t really live through it, but I love reading about that time in the US. Just as one example, in 1973 (I think), two or three of the top six grossing movies were X-rated. Can you imagine an X-rated movie being in the top 10 today? Anyway, that do whatever makes you feel good attitude, and total lack of interest in professionalism or tradition, swept through all of society, and made baseball, movies, and pro basketball (in the ABA) as colorful as they’ve ever been, or will be probably for a very long time.